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Hyundai opens first car-powered hotel with the IONIQ 5
Hyundai opened a hotel powered by its IONIQ 5 all-electric vehicle. The car-powered vacation spot is located in the countryside of the United Kingdom.
Hyundai Hotel is a collaboration between the Korean automaker and broadcast/critic Grace Dent. The hotel will utilize the IONIQ 5’s Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) technology to power the entire facility. The car has a V2L port at its charging port.
The IONIQ 5 has at least two battery options: the Standard-range 58kWh pack and the Long-range 72.6 kWh pack. It is unclear which battery option powers Hyundai Hotel. Hyundai stated that V2L could supply up to 3.6 kW of power. The Korean car manufacturer said the IONIQ 5 could charge high-power electric equipment using a converter. The car can also provide power while it’s turned off.
“We’re looking for unique, memorable stays more now than ever and this is a delicious blend of innovation, luxury and comfort that gets you thinking. With power coming from the car, where could Hotel Hyundai pop-up next?” comments Grace Dent.
The entire concept of the hotel is based on research commissioned by Hyundai. Approximately 2,000 vacationers participated in the research. More than 55% of the participants noted that the cost-of-living crisis made them reevaluate their vacation plans.
About 44% of vacationers in the research said they would likely go on more staycations in 2023 compared to 2022. Around 31% of the participants highlighted that staycations were better for shorter vacations or breaks. Three out of ten vacationers noted that the UK countryside was a good place to enjoy their mini-breaks.
Hotel Hyundai is situated in Essex, an hour away from central London. Its location seems to be ideal for short breaks or mini vacations. The car-powered hotel is centered around a high-end luxury cabin by Colemans Farm. Everything in the cabin is powered by the IONIQ 5’s V2L technology.
“Our award-winning IONIQ 5 is able to power Hotel Hyundai using its V2L feature, where an adapter from the car provides a socket which domestic appliances can be plugged into. The whole experience demonstrates the practicality of this pioneering technology, and we hope the concept inspires more people to go off grid,” said Hyundai Motor UK’s Managing Director Ashley Andrew.
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Hyundai’s award-winning all-electric vehicle also powers the IONIQ 5 coffee lounge at the hotel’s bar and restaurant. It also powers the projector, speakers, and popcorn machine at the hotel’s cinema.
Hotel Hyundai is operational for only 14 nights between October 19 and November 5. It will be open from Wednesday to Sunday. People interested in staying at the hotel have a chance to win a stay at the car-powered hotel through: www.kiphideaways.com/hideaways/hotel-hyundai. The competition will run from October 6 to October 19.
For those who don’t get a chance to stay at Hotel Hyundai, there might be hope in the future. The car-powered hotel might pop up somewhere else in the future.
“I hope this three-week pop-up hotel is just the start for this concept of a car plugging in and powering a luxury experience like this. I’m predicting that guests will be hoping that his amazing hotel and the full experience it offers might be here again in 2023,” teased Dent.
The Teslarati team would appreciate hearing from you. If you have any tips, contact me at maria@teslarati.com or via Twitter @Writer_01001101.
Tesla has launched a new Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) Outlet Adapter for Premium Model Y vehicles in the United States, meaning you can now power devices like laptops or light strings with your vehicle’s battery.
It appears the capability will be available for any Model Y Premium trim, including those that were purchased prior to the Adapter being launched. It will also only impact Juniper Model Y vehicles, so the first-gen owners will unfortunately not have access to this capability.
If your Model Y was purchased before Tesla renamed the trim levels to “Premium” and “Standard,” it does not seem to be compatible. My Model Y is technically a Premium build, as it is the Long Range All-Wheel-Drive. However, Tesla says it is not compatible with my vehicle.
🚨 Tesla has launched the Outlet Adapter for Model Y Premium in the U.S., enabling V2L capability for all Premium trims (that’s what it appears to be as it is available for purchase with all Premium trims)
It’s available for $80. 2.4kW max power and rated for 120v, 20A pic.twitter.com/lDxlVIk5s8
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 14, 2026
For $80, you can now utilize your car as a portable charger for small appliances or devices. This is perfect for things like tailgates, concerts, or camping, as you can now plug in devices that you might use. Those string lights for camping? That laptop for the other games that are on at the tailgate?
They’ll both utilize energy from your Tesla’s battery to be powered. This is the first time Tesla has expanded the capability to vehicles outside of the Model Y Performance and Cybertruck. However, this feature has been highly requested by owners for an extended period of time.
Tesla launched the Outlet Adapter in China last year:
Tesla China rolls out Model Y L V2L adapter, and it’s free for early owners
You will need the Mobile Connector to operate the Outlet Adapter: the Outlet Adapter will plug into the main housing of the Mobile Connector, where the appropriate adapter to charge your vehicle will plug in.
It is rated for 120 volts and 20 amps, and has a max power rating of 2.4kW.
You can buy it here from Tesla for $80.
Tesla is nearing its long-awaited unveiling of the all-electric Tesla Roadster, a new report from The Information claims, as the company has said several times this year that the event would take place “soon.”
Now, it appears there is movement on Tesla’s end regarding when it will happen.
The report says that Tesla will unveil the Roadster as soon as this month with a SpaceX version that will utilize cold-gas thrusters to help the vehicle float for a short period of time. This is something CEO Elon Musk has talked about with the Roadster for years.
🚨 The Information is reporting this morning that Tesla is ready to unveil the “flying” Roadster as soon as this month
It’s almost here, folks. pic.twitter.com/IdL4atsucQ
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 14, 2026
Additionally, due to the delays, Tesla explored “a variety of designs” for the Roadster, potentially planning to abandon the design it showed off for the first time in 2017 and adopting an entirely new aesthetic.
According to The Information, Tesla considered utilizing a repurposed Model S Plaid and even wanted to upgrade the look to something like a Lamborghini Countach.
We’ve heard all of these things before, including teases about the date and how “soon” the Roadster will finally be ready to be shown off to the world (for the second time). Musk said that the event would occur in April, then May, then Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen continued to say it would be coming “soon.”
We do expect to see the Roadster by the end of the year, and now with this new report swirling, it appears it could be sooner rather than later.
The wait has been incredibly long, but there is likely a good reason for it. Tesla’s desire to make the Roadster the craziest vehicle on the road was non-negotiable, and it likely took a lot of time and resources to develop and perfect into something that was safe and suitable for a vehicle like this.
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Tesla finally got its Nevada Robotaxi Permit but with a few catches hard to miss
Nevada granted Tesla’s robotaxi permit, but capped the fleet at just ten vehicles for now.
Tesla has received its robotaxi permit in Nevada, more than two months after regulators closed the public comment period on the company’s application. News of the approval surfaced Wednesday night when Tesla investor and longtime company watcher Sawyer Merritt posted a copy of the interim order, and the Nevada Transportation Authority’s own carrier registry now lists the permit, AVNC Permit 002 under Docket 26-05015, as active for Tesla Robotaxi, LLC.
Tesla asked Nevada in June for authority to run up to 5,000 vehicles in Clark County within a year, however the permit the NTA issued is initially capping Tesla at ten fully autonomous vehicles and confines them to a defined geofence along the Las Vegas Strip corridor. Any expansion of that operating area, or any increase to the fleet size, requires the NTA’s approval first.
Tesla has received its Autonomous Vehicle Network Company permit in Nevada.
The Nevada Transportation Authority says that operations are limited to a maximum fleet of 10 fully autonomous vehicles and shall be conducted only within the Authority-approved Operational Design… https://t.co/Cxfd6GIfDk pic.twitter.com/iOO6wSZkHF
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) August 13, 2026
The order also sets rules that look more restrictive than what Tesla runs in Austin. Rides are barred on roads with posted speed limits above 45 miles per hour, pickups are off limits within a quarter mile of Harry Reid International Airport without separate authorization, and every vehicle has to carry visible “Robotaxi” markings while notifying riders before each trip that no one is driving. The order also requires “appropriate human supervision”, language that suggests Nevada isn’t ready to let Tesla offer the rides without a safety monitor that it has run in parts of Austin since January. As with standard protocol with robotaxi services, Tesla must report any accident, system failure, or vehicle that becomes stranded on a Nevada road within five business days.
Tesla is entering a market Nevada already knows well. Zoox, the Amazon owned robotaxi company, has run its own autonomous vehicle permit in the state since last year, building up to roughly 100 vehicles and 350,000 rides along the Strip. That history likely explains why the NTA started Tesla at ten cars rather than the fleet size the company asked for. The agency has a template for scaling a permit up once a company proves out its safety record.
Tesla’s Nevada application first surfaced in June, when the company filed for the permit alongside plans for a maintenance hub in southwest Las Vegas. The company has said it won’t meaningfully scale its robotaxi fleet anywhere until FSD v15 ships, expected in late 2026 or early 2027, which makes the ten vehicle cap less of a constraint today than it might look on paper. For now, Tesla has the legal right to start Nevada rides. Whether it starts before FSD v15 arrives is a separate question the permit doesn’t answer.
Tesla launches V2L Outlet Adapter for Premium Model Y in the U.S.
Tesla Roadster unveiling nears, and it will fly: The Information
